Sub-seabed CO2 Storage: Monitoring Techniques

ECO2 Videos

Field work conducted at the natural CO2 seepagesite off Panarea Island, north of Sicily, Italy

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Abstract

The
project will establish a framework of best environmental practices to guide the
management of offshore CO2 injection and storage and as addendum to
the EU directive on "Geological Storage of CO2" for the
marine realm. This includes the quantitative assessment of potential and actual
impacts on marine ecosystems at a CO2 injection facility and the
entire storage site. A comprehensive monitoring concept for storage sites will
be developed comprising innovative techniques that are apt to detect different
modes and levels of leakage including that of pre-cursors. Field studies at
operated and prospective sites (Sleipner, Snøhvit) and natural CO2
seeps (North Sea, Mediterranean Sea) are
completed by lab experiments and numerical simulations on different scales. An
integral part of the project is to transfer this knowledge into a risk
management concept and an economic valuing of the costs of leakage, monitoring, mitigation measures, and a clear communication framework. An understanding of the precautionary principle as
primary tool for balancing the environmental risks will be built.

The ECO2 project (no 265847) has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.